LA City street crews partnered with City Councilman José Huizar and City Councilman Eric Garcetti today to issue a motion calling for the restoration of critical street services to handle the spiraling need for road repairs in Los Angeles.
Councilman Richard Alarcon, of Council District 7, also attended the event to support the need for street services in Los Angeles.
“We owe it to the people of Los Angeles to fill potholes, resurface streets and remove fallen trees year-round,” Councilman Huizar said.
The elected officials presented the motion at a press conference alongside SEIU 721 President Bob Schoonover and LA City Street Service workers.
“We’re asking to end the furloughs for Street Services and any place else we can because we want to do the work that we were hired to do,” said SEIU Local 721 President Bob Schoonover.
LA City Street Service workers spoke about the impact of being on furloughs since July 1, 2010.
“We’re seeing a major decline in street services,” said Joseph Gomes, a heavy-duty truck operator. “We want to fill potholes, fix streets and handle emergencies but we need to end the work furloughs first.”
The motion requests that the City Administrative Office report to City Council on options for exempting certain classifications within the Bureau of Street Services that are near fully paid for by special funds or can be covered among various funding sources.
“My motion asks the CAO to study exempting Bureau of Street Service workers who are specially funded from furloughs, meaning those whose salaries are paid using outside sources and not from our General Fund,” said Councilman José Huizar. “I’m also asking the CAO to identify additional special funds in order to expand cleaning up our streets and roadways.”
LA City Street Service workers have also launched www.KeepLAStrong.com, an online campaign to inform the public about restoring LA’s streets.